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Treinta y tres conference scheduled for Friday, Nov. 2

October 22, 2018

Register now for “Treinta y tres,” an interdisciplinary conference on Friday, Nov. 2, that will feature of research of three NIU faculty members.

According to Christina Abreu, director of the Center for Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, the conference name – Treinta y tres – calls attention to, the diversity of experiences and voices emerging from the thirty-three countries that comprise Latin America. The long-term goal is to preserve and promote Latin American and Latinx scholarship.

“This year, we also wanted to highlight the original and innovative research of the Center’s faculty associates, who come from a variety of departments across the college and university,” Abreu said.

This year’s conference is centered on the theme of social and political activism and features the original research of Beatrix Hoffman, Department of History; Laura Johnson, Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment; and Mark Schuller, Department of Anthropology and the Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies.

Beatrix Hoffman

Hoffman’s presentation chronicles the activism of groups who have demanded an equal right to health care regardless of citizenship or immigration status, including progressive labor unions in the 1890s, farmworker organizations in the 1970s and ’80s, and the immigrant rights movement today.

Laura Johnson

Community engagement and advocacy among Latinx youth in Chicago will be the focus of Johnson’s presentation, where she will share findings from her research with Latinx youth/pregnant and parenting youth attending an alternative high school in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community. She will discuss how youth’s involvement in a number of school-based initiatives and Participatory Action Research projects helped them participate in broader discussions and debates in a variety of issues relevant to their lives and communities, including gun violence, gentrification, food insecurity and teen parenthood.

Mark Schuller

During Schuller’s presentation, participants will learn about activism without borders, commonly referred to as solidary activism or being a global citizen. As he traces the progression of this form of activism, he will encourage the audience to grapple with dilemmas of inclusion and exclusion, and differential privilege: too often solidarity can bleed into speaking on behalf of, the ‘voice for the voiceless.’

The conference, hosted by the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Latino Center, 515 Garden Road. The event is free and open to NIU students, faculty and staff. Advanced registration is encouraged.

“We hope that attendees leave the conference eager to keep thinking about the past and present roles of social and political activism in Latinx communities,” Abreu said. “As Treinta y tres evolves each year, we plan to feature student panels as well as a keynote speaker.”

The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies, housed within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is the home for the interdisciplinary study of the Latino experience in the United States as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The Center’s curricular offerings in the humanities, arts and social sciences are enhanced by our academic and cultural programming and community outreach activities.